Principal's letter sheds light on coach's arrest

A newly released public record illustrates the circumstances leading up to former McCutcheon High School teacher Jakob Robinson's arrest.

Robinson, who was fired by the Tippecanoe School Corp. board on Thursday, faces five charges of child seduction, felonies punishable by one to six years each.

The letter, released to the Journal & Courier following a public record request, is a Jan. 14 letter from Principal John Beeker to Robinson in which Beeker lays out the facts leading up to his recommendation that the board immediately terminate Robinson's teaching contract.

The letter alleges that Robinson actively misled McCutcheon officials on the nature of his relationship with the student and that he attempted to have TSC's technology department re-image his computer to destroy evidence.

In December, shortly before winter break, a patron saw Robinson and the student in public and notified school administrators that Robinson's "relationship with the student appeared to exceed a normal student-teacher relationship."

Then, on Dec. 18, the Thursday before winter break, two administrators watching the school's surveillance cameras witnessed Robinson and the student leave the school at lunch time.

"They subsequently observed you take the student into a residence off campus," Beeker wrote to Robinson in the letter.

When the pair returned to campus, Beeker confronted Robinson about his behavior. Robinson told Beeker he took the girl to his parents' residence, where he was living, because he had to pick up money for lunch.

Beeker then asked Robinson if he was engaged in an inappropriate relationship with the student.

"You adamantly denied the existence of an inappropriate relationship with this student and explained that you were only serving as a mentor for the student with the student's mother's knowledge and consent," Beeker wrote.

Beeker told Robinson his actions were unacceptable and constituted a serious lapse in professional judgment.

At that point, officials knew Robinson had violated school policy by transporting a student in his car without the school's permission. But they did not yet have any knowledge of any criminal activity on the part of Robinson, said TSC Superintendent Scott Hanback when interviewed this week.

It's not unheard of for teachers to take their student assistants to lunch during finals week, Hanback said. The district's internal investigation, along with that of law enforcement, found McCutcheon officials acted appropriately.

"You have to ask who knew what and when," Hanback said. "Those questions were asked by both investigating parties and based on the knowledge the principals had at the time, they acted the way they were supposed to.

"The fact that (Robinson) was being less than truthful speaks to me that the principal didn't ignore any concerns but acted on the information they had available to them at the time."

On Jan. 9, five days into the new semester, Tippecanoe County sheriff's deputies arrived, requesting to interview the student.

Robinson was walking down the hallway with the student when he saw the officers in the school's office, Beeker's letter says.

Robinson then approached the school's technology technician and asked them to re-image his computer, claiming it was infected with viruses and malware. The district was able to recover emails from Robinson's computer that revealed he "exchanged emails with this student very late at night."

Later that day, Robinson was arrested at the school and placed on paid administrative leave.

The district on Thursday formally severed ties to Robinson, firing him for immorality, insubordination, neglect of duty and other good and just cause.

Prior to termination, Robinson had the option of requesting a private conference with Hanback or the school board but didn't request either.